Air Force Hosts No. 14 Denver In Regular Season Finale (4/27/06)

SILA Coaches Poll, at 1:00 p.m. on
Saturday, April 29.


Last Time Out...
Air Force went on the road for a pair of GWLL contests last weekend, dropping both, 11-7, to Butler and Ohio State.

Against Butler, the Falcons trailed 6-2 at the break, and despite playing evenly in the second half, could not overcome their early deficit. Junior Will Meister and freshman Griffin Nevitt both notched two goals and an assist each to lead the Air Force offense in the loss.

The Falcons wrapped up the weekend at Ohio State, and while they trailed just 4-3 at the half, the Buckeyes exploded for five unanswered goals to open the third period en route to the 11-7 win. Nevitt finished with a team-high three goals, while Meister added two goals and an assist. Meanwhile, junior goalkeeper Daniel Bellissimo notched nine saves in his first career start.


Head Coach Fred Acee...
Air Force head coach Fred Acee is in his ninth season at the helm of the Falcons’ program and his 39th season overall as a collegiate lacrosse coach.

A 1963 graduate of Cortland State, Acee coached at SUNY-Farmingdale, a two-year college on Long Island, for 30 years, compiling an overall mark of 312-119-1 and advancing to the NJCAA Final Four 25 times. Since Acee’s arrival at the Academy in the fall of 1997, the Falcons have yearly played top notch Division I schedules, compiling a record of 33-84.


Scouting the Pioneers...
Denver, ranked 14th in both the USILA Coaches’ Poll and Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, enters this weekend’s contest with an 11-4 overall record and 4-0 mark in the GWLL. The Pioneers are coming off a pair of road wins at Ohio State and Butler.

Ryan Zordani leads Denver’s offense with 37 points (19 goals, 18 assists) on the season, while Brandon Barcus is second with 31 points and a team-leading 24 goals. Goalkeeper Jeb Hollingsworth has started 13 of the team’s 15 games and
has recorded 110 saves and a 7.84 GAA.

Denver is coached by Jamie Munro (Brown ‘89), who has compiled a 63-47 career mark in his eighth season at the helm of the Pioneers’ program.

In the Series...
Air Force leads in the all-time series versus Denver, 51-12, but the Pioneers have won the last three meetings, including a 10-9 overtime win at Denver last season.


Senior Day...
Saturday’s game against Denver will mark the final home game for eight Air Force seniors, as well as Brion Stroud, a team manager in his fourth season with the Falcons.

Among this year’s senior class are captains Paul Adams and Max Miller, as well as Michael Cotham, Brad DelloIacono, Kevin Krieger, Patrick Mitchell, Justin Pavoni, and John Smith.


Falcons in the National Rankings...
In the latest national rankings through games of April 23, Air Force found itself ranked in the top-50 in every statistical category. The Falcons are rated 22nd in scoring defense (8.13), 26th in man-down defense (.706), 33rd in win percentage (.467), 34th in scoring margin (+0.07), 36th in scoring offense (8.2), 38th in face-off win percentage (.459) and 50th in man-up offense (.200).

In addition, several Air Force players are rated in the individual rankings. Junior Will Meister is currently 13th in the nation in assists per game (1.73) and 46th in points per game (2.8), goalkeeper Justin Pavoni is rated 17th, 23rd and 23rd in save percentage (.574), goals against average (8.14) and ground balls (4.79), respectively, and face-off specialist Kyle O’Neill ranks 44th (.468) in face-off win percentage.

In the GWLL rankings, Meister leads the league in assists per game and ranks sixth in points per game, while Griffin Nevitt is tied for seventh (1.60) and Kevin Crumrine is in 10th place (1.53) in goals per game. Pavoni is first in saves per game (10.57), second in ground balls per game and third in save percentage and fourth in goals against average. Finally, O’Neill and John Smith (.455) rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in face-off win percentage.


How They Rate...
Denver ranks in the top-25 nationally in six statistical categories, including second in face-off win percentage (.675), fifth in scoring offense (11.27), sixth in both man-down defense (.772) and scoring margin (+3.67), eighth in win percentage (.733) and 14th in scoring defense (7.6).

Face-off specialist Geoff Snider leads the nation in both ground balls per game (11.73) and face-off win percentage (.697), while goalkeeper Jeb Hollingsworth ranks 19th and 22nd in goals against average (7.84) and save percentage (.561), respectively.
In the GWLL rankings, Snider leads the league in ground balls per game and face-off win percentage, Ryan Zordani is fourth in assists per game (1.2) and Hollingsworth ranks third in goals against average, fifth in save percentage and sixth in saves per game (8.46).


Meister, The Assist Leader...
Junior tri-captain Will Meister, who leads the GWLL with 1.73 assists per contest, needs just four more assists to break into the career top-10 list at the Academy. Currently, Craig Ward (1984-87) and George Mandis (1974-77) are tied for 10th place on the Air Force assist list with 67. The last player to make his way onto the list was Mike Murphy, who played from 1991-94, more than 20 years ago. Murphy ended his career with 68 assists, a figure certainly within Meister’s reach.


Pavoni Moves Up In the Record Books...
With 148 saves through 14 games this season, senior Justin Pavoni sits in seventh place on the career saves list at the Academy with 454 total saves, and sits 42 saves behind sixth-place holder Chris Cicere.

Most impressive about Pavoni’s feat is not only that he has accomplished it against a rigorous Division I schedule (many of Air Force’s teams in the first 25+ years of the program played Division II and III teams), but he has also made his mark in just three years of play, as Pavoni did not see action as a freshman.